Banned Books Week 2024
Hello everyone!
I hope you all have been having a wonderful beginning of Autumn. I have been dealing with a sick four year old, because that is what four year olds do! But he is a lot better now and I am back to writing. This week I am talking about banned books and what we can do to fight book banning in our communities.
This week (22-28 September) is banned books week. Observed since 1982, this is a week where we bring attention to the books which are not allowed in the public schools and libraries. The American Library Association (ALA) has planned a lot of events for this week. In the past few years, book banning has become an important topic because there has been a surge in banned books, especially in Florida and Texas. Many of these banned books have LGBTQIA+ characters, which means that queer children and youth don’t get to see themselves in the books that they read. Of the top 10 books challenged, 7 have LGBTQIA+ themes.
Why are books being banned?
I was asked this question recently by my barber: Why (and how) can we be banning books? While most people oppose banning books and trust the library to provide appropriate books to students, a vocal minority have been organizing and gaining power within local school boards to ban books that they do not like. In some states, if one parent challenges a book, even if they do not live in the district, it needs to be taken off the shelves. Furthermore, some states are passing state-wide laws about books that should be banned.
These bans have a negative impact on all youth, especially LGBTQIA+ youth. Banning LGBTQIA+ books indicates to queer youth that they are “othered” and not welcome. It can also internalize “shame” in LGBTQIA+ people due to their identity. It doesn’t stop people from learning about LGBTQIA+ people (though that is one of the aims), but it makes it harder and it sends a very specific message to youth.
What can you do?
There are a lot of resources out there on how to respond to book bans. To start, I encourage you to read banned books. United Against Book Bans has a toolkit on how to get involved in your community when book bans are being proposed. The Comic Books Legal Defense Fund has fliers and banners about the banning of comic books. The ALA has a store to bring attention to book bans. And the official Banned Books Week website has a lot of other resources that you can use to bring attention to banned books.
Importantly, make your presence known when book bans are being discussed. Part of the reason that book bans are passed is because not enough people come to meetings to speak in favor of books. Those who are fighting for book bans have been better organized, although groups like Moms for Liberty are already losing more elections than winning. But speaking up at your school board and city council meetings about book bans is important to show that they are not popular. Talking points can be found through PEN, United Against Books, BookRiot, and NCAC.
Lastly, vote in your local elections. A lot of people do not vote, and many local elections are on a different schedule than federal and state elections. But turnout to vote against those who would ban books (and push other local bills and rules that hurt the LGBTQIA+ community) is a way to support the queer community. With changes to voter registration rolls happening all the time, it is important to check to see if you are still registered to vote. You can find out your registration status here. I suggest you do this as soon as possible because the deadline to reregister is coming up quickly in some states. So vote for queer rights and to support LGBTQIA+ children!